Pub to become homes

A property developer is restoring a Newark pub that he worked on as an apprentice builder in the 1970s.

Mr Mark Addison, director of Midlands Estates Management, said work to turn the former Blue Man pub on Northgate, Newark, into flats was due to start in the new year and should be finished by the end of next summer.

Mr Addison said he planned to call the development of seven flats Blue Man Court in recognition of its past.

Mr Addison, of Bathley, bought the pub from Enterprise Inns last year. It had closed nine months earlier.

He said he had been keen to buy it for several years because he owns the adjoining cottages.

The main part of the three-storey pub will be turned into four flats. The 1970s extension Mr Addison worked on will become a flat and two new cottages will be built in a courtyard at the back.

Mr Addison’s company, Addison Builders, also did maintenance work on the pub in the 1980s when it was owned by John Smith’s brewery.

Mr Addison said he wanted to restore features such as the slate roof and sash windows as shown in early photographs.

A historic building analysis completed as part of the planning application, said the building, which is listed for protection, was built as a beerhouse in about 1832.

It said that part of Newark was open fields until about 1830 and the Blue Man beerhouse must have been one of the first developments in the area.

By the end of the 19th Century the Blue Man had become a public house. It was acquired by Newark brewers Warwicks and Richardsons in 1901.

The plans for the flats were drawn up by building design consultant Mr Robert Cordell, of Winthorpe.